Washington state to block Trump’s revised travel ban

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose state was the first to sue over Trump's initial travel ban that created chaos worldwide and was eventually blocked, said at least three other states are expected to join the new legal battle.

LOS ANGELES: The top prosecutor in the state of Washington said Thursday that his office was filing a motion to block President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban targeting citizens of six Muslim-majority countries.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose state was the first to sue over Trump’s initial travel ban that created chaos worldwide and was eventually blocked, said at least three other states are expected to join the new legal battle.

He said his motion calls on an existing injunction against the travel ban issued in January to be applied to the new directive.

“We’re asserting that the president cannot unilaterally declare himself free of the court’s restraining order and injunction,” Ferguson told reporters.

“It’s our view that the temporary restraining order that we’ve already obtained remains in effect.”

He said although the revised order issued on Monday was narrower in scope, it still could be challenged on constitutional grounds.

Hawaii on Tuesday filed the first legal challenge to the new executive order.

The new order denies US entry to all refugees for 120 days and halts for 90 days the granting of visas to nationals from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan. It is due to take effect on March 16.

The first order had also applied to citizens of Iraq but the country was dropped from the new list.